Clusterfudge! Or, Los Angeles Traffic

The intersection of Hollywood and Highland is ALWAYS pretty bad. But come here when there’s a concert at the Hollywood Bowl or when a little event like the Academy Awards is going on and you will be beyond screwed.

Heading to a Dodger game can be slightly painful when it comes to taking the 101 to the 5, but since everyone comes at random times, it’s not too terrible. Do you want to know what is terrible? Going back from a Dodger game! The freeways get crazy jammed. Good luck if you’re taking the 101. You’re going to need it.

I’ve already talked about how much I hate LAX on Guidespot, and part of the reason (in addition to its sheer ugliness) is the terrible traffic that surrounds it. The 405 is pretty bad around the Los Angeles area, but it gets REALLY bad the closer you get to LAX.

The Sherman Oaks Galleria itself is not a source of traffic, but the mall happens to sit at the intersection of the 405 and 101 freeways. And while they have tried to ease the pain of this interchange, it still causes many a soul tremendous grief. So while you sit on the 405 trying to transition to the 101 you can look at the Galleria and think you much you’d rather be watching a movie at the Arclight at that moment.

If there’s a Laker game going on or say a memorial service for someone relatively obscure like Michael Jackson, then you can consider your chances of getting downtown seriously compromised. And don’t even THINK about taking the 110.

I’d rather be hit over the head with a frozen turkey, then hang out on the Sunset Strip. But every so often I need to swallow my pride and do it. Part of the reason I hate the Sunset Strip is the scene (LAME), and the other part is the traffic— there’s always traffic around here! Complicating the already bad traffic is the face that the police tend to set up sobriety check points around here on weekend nights.